AL drops Khandaker Mosharraf from advisory council

Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, a lawmaker from Faridpur-3 constituency, has been excluded from the advisory council of Awami League in the party’s 22nd council.

He is also the president of the parliamentary standing committee on local government, rural development and cooperative ministry, but has been absent in the parliament for long. He is now abroad.

Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain had served as expatriate welfare minister and local government minister before he was left out of the cabinet in 2018. There are allegations of practicing excessive power and involvement in irregularities against him and other family members.

As per party constitution, Awami League has a 51-member advisory council while the president is authorised to extend the council as per requirements. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain was made advisor in the previous several councils.

He is the lone member to be dropped from the council this time. Five Awami League leaders, who were in the presidium and other senior posts, have been included in the advisory council. However, many posts are still lying vacant in the council as a good number of senior leaders of the party died during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain was elected for the first time in 2008 and was made expatriate welfare minister in 2009. He established his absolute control over the Faridpur Awami League while his followers allegedly took control of tenders of development projects, extorted money, grabbed lands and amassed illegal wealths.

Later, He was shifted to the local government, rural development and cooperative ministry. In 2018, he was dropped from the cabinet.

The police conducted a drive in his residence in Faridpur and arrested two of his close associates on 7 June, 2020.